A different take
Starting with the less controversial:
Meadowbrook was super. My first time there, it will not be my last. I only wish I had arrived early enough for dinner.
To answer ishoot308--Mavis Staples, who led the iconic Staple Singers from the Civil Rights Era and on, was the opening act. She's amazing--last night was my 5th time seeing her, and I figured she'd be worth the price of admission if I didn't like Dylan. She was! Her voice and her heart both just roar. Fun fact--Dylan proposed to her in the 60s. If you enjoyed The Weight last night, check out You Tube for the version her family did on The Last Waltz for a before and after kick.
I also thought Dylan was great last night. OK--as a number of you have noted--he didn't play his hits, he's often unintelligible, and few of us are really pumped over the songbook standards which comprised half his show. But he's not Dylan because he gives us what we want (presumably an easy to digest oldies show). He and his band delivered unique versions of standards and his own music. His band played beautifully, his voice was actually better than I expected, and it was a much more real, thoughtful, creative, and special statement than the easy trip down memory lane that so many of his contemporaries offer to great applause. I agree the show could have been better if he spent just a bit of time on showmanship. But he's Dylan, and no more interested in taking the audience's pulse today than he was when he went electric in Newport 1965.
Maybe we could agree that we were incredibly lucky to hear one of the all time greats play Tangled Up in Blue and and Blowin' in the Wind?
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